How to tell preban status of H&K 9mm mags / magazines ??

[StrkAliteN]

I have a few older ( but look brand new ) Heckler and Koch 15 rnd 9mm mags for the HK USP 9mm.

Neither are LE marked and nor do they have any date stamp date or 2 letter designation on them anywhere.

Are these pre 1994 / true preban mags ?

thanks in advance for any help / clarrification

 

[M1911]

I believe that the USP was introduced in late 1993. Which suggests that majority of USP magazines are post-ban.

 

[drgrant]

For the full size USP there are a lot of preban mags out there, at least in 9mm and .40... the .45s are exceedingly rare.

I'm not sure if there is any reliable way to tell other than the LE markings. Some of the mags I had for my USP .40 said "6/94" marked on them to show they were preban, others were simply blank in the same spot. I think as the ban drew nearer they started putting markings on them... then came the LE markings, then post 2004 I'm not sure what they did. .

I know the newer mags typically say "Made In Germany" on the front of them in fairly large text, but that's possibly not entirely reliable, either.

-Mike

 

[terraformer]

There is a date code on the mags. It is a small two letter code. Google for it but the vast majority of prebans are of one code. IR is the one that pops in my mind. IE may also be fine.

 

[drgrant]

There is a date code on the mags. It is a small two letter code. Google for it but the vast majority of prebans are of one code. IR is the one that pops in my mind. IE may also be fine.

The problem with the mag codes is they're not consistently used.... eg, some of the mags had them, some did not. I don't think many of my USP40 mags had the codes. I have a USP45 mag that has a code, but I forget what it is... but the other 3 mags I have have no code. All of my P7M8 mags have the codes, though, like IR, IE, IF. what's weird is none of them correspond (according to the internet list of mag codes, found on HKPRO and other places) to the age of the gun, and I got 2 of them (the IRs i think) with the gun, and I'm reasonably sure the gun I bought was basically owned by a collector, so the mags should be original... go figure.

-Mike

 

[terraformer]

The problem with the mag codes is they're not consistently used.... eg, some of the mags had them, some did not. I don't think many of my USP40 mags had the codes. I have a USP45 mag that has a code, but I forget what it is... but the other 3 mags I have have no code. All of my P7M8 mags have the codes, though, like IR, IE, IF. what's weird is none of them correspond (according to the internet list of mag codes, found on HKPRO and other places) to the age of the gun, and I got 2 of them (the IRs i think) with the gun, and I'm reasonably sure the gun I bought was basically owned by a collector, so the mags should be original... go figure.

-Mike

My understanding is the mag codes didn't have the same coding as the guns, so they won't correspond properly.